This is a yummy dish with a bit of a kick due to the use of a chipotle pepper and a teaspoon or two of the accompanying adobo sauce. The simplest version of the recipe shown below, without the optional ingredients, is one I put together looking at a variety of related recipes for a few different beans and rice dishes. I then talked with the expert, my daughter-in-law, Jane, to find out how to improve the simple recipe.
I thank Jane, who is a great cook, for her red beans and rice with chipotle pepper recipe, which is excellent. But then I decided to extend her recipe, optionally, with recipe variations shown below, one for adding Mexican pulled/shredded pork, which can be mixed in with her vegetarian recipe, and one using yet more basic vegetable ingredients along with the Mexican Pulled Pork and broth. It is funny how easily one can become addicted to trying recipe variations for dishes of this type, for the basic dish lends itself very well to many variations.
Note that the recipe for making the Mexican Pulled Pork is shown at the end of this recipe for your convenience if you decide to include it.
I made the recipe below using the optional Mexican Pulled/Shredded Pork, and I am reporting back with results ... Really good! In a word, authentic! For me the best part is that you can certainly tell the chipotle pepper and adobo sauce are present, but it is not a hotly seasoned dish. You can add hot sauce later if you prefer.
Okay, now for a brief discussion of the third choice. If I've made the Mexican Pulled Pork that means I have exceptionally well flavored broth as well as the shredded pork, so I can enhance the red beans and rice by using some of the broth. Second, the original red beans and rice recipe seems to me to be a bit light on the beans, so I've made the addition of a second can of beans optional ... but I like that version best. Finally, I decided to amp up the seasoning and other flavors and the appearance of the dish, so I've listed optional use of red and green bell peppers, diced, and some fresh jalapeno peppers, diced, along with using only chicken broth and broth from the Mexican Pulled Pork and no water. The addition of the diced vegetables causes the amount of olive oil to be used to increase to 3 tablespoons, for the sauteing step.
Having now made this dish using all three recipe variations I clearly opt for the one using the most ingredients as it is more complex in texture and very flavorful. You can choose whatever you want to please yourself.
Ingredients: (four to five servings; six to eight servings if the optional shredded pork and other optional ingredients are added)
1 or 2, 15.5 ounce cans of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 or 3 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of uncooked medium or long grain white or brown rice (I prefer basmati rice)
1/3 cup of finely diced white or sweet onion
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 red sweet bell pepper, diced (optional)
1/2 green sweet bell pepper, diced (optional)
2 to 4 fresh jalapeno peppers, diced (optional)
1, 14 ounce can of chicken broth
1 1/2 cups of water or 1 additional 14 ounce can of chicken broth
8 ounces (or more) of broth from the Mexican Pulled Pork recipe (optional)
2 lbs. (or more) of Mexican Pulled Pork (optional)
3 Tbsp. of tomato paste
1 or 2 tsp. of kosher salt or sea salt
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, diced
1 or 2 tsp. of the adobo sauce
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems pressed into the measuring cup and then chopped
Directions:
Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat in a large heavy bottom deep skillet. When the temperature is about right you can smell the heated oil, but do not overheat the oil to the point that it is smoking.
Add the rice, the diced onion and the diced garlic. If you are using the optional diced vegetable ingredients add them also. Stir the mixture to coat the rice and vegetables with the hot olive oil.
Reduce the heat and saute on medium heat, covered, until the rice has an opaque color and the hot onion and garlic are fragrant, about 2 minutes. If you have used the optional vegetable ingredients saute for an additional 2 minutes after mixing the ingredients.
Add the chicken broth, water or Mexican Pulled Pork broth, kidney beans, tomato paste, adobo sauce, diced chipotle pepper, cilantro and salt.
Add the Mexican Pulled Pork if you are using that optional ingredient.
Mix well to combine all ingredients evenly.
Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to very low, and simmer until the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes, depending on the type of rice used (uncooked vs. parboiled, and white, brown or basmati, all of which will have different cooking times, so follow the directions for the type of rice you use).
You will want to move the skillet to a small burner on low heat while cooking the rice, to avoid having it cook too fast and stick to the bottom of the skillet. You will also want to stir the mixture every few minutes to keep rice from sticking to the bottom of the skillet. This is particularly important if you are using a gas cooktop. If sticking becomes a problem then add additional broth or water to the center of the skillet and stir.
At the end of the cooking period, stir the mixture with a large spoon and then keep the skillet covered, with no heat, for five minutes. That will give the rice time to finish absorbing any remaining liquid. You may then want to adjust the moisture content of the dish by adding additional heated broth from the Mexican Pulled Pork before serving the red beans and rice. That balances the moisture with the solids to make the dish perfect, which means smooth and not pasty.
Serve the dish in pre-heated individual serving bowls that you warmed in a 180 degrees F oven, along with side of tortilla chips and mild salsa and cold Corona® or Dos Equis® or Tecate® beer. A small lettuce and tomato salad with a mild creamy dressing, like Ranch Dressing, is a nice accompaniment. Ditto warmed flour tortillas.
Enjoy!
Below is the recipe for making the optional Mexican Pulled Pork.
I had some terrific tacos at a Mexican Grill restaurant. One of them contained shredded/pulled pork and it was fabulous. While I can't precisely identify all of the ingredients they used in preparing that pork I have provided a general recipe for making it that turned out to be fine. You can experiment with various fresh ingredients and sauces later to make the taco of your choice if that idea appeals to you. Lots of people love shredded pork tacos. The purpose for presenting the recipe here is to use some (about half) of the shredded pork as an addition to the red beans and rice and chipotle pepper recipe shown above. I'm sure you will find a good use for the other half, or, you can halve the recipe shown below, or, you might double the above recipe for red beans and rice with chipotle pepper.
Ingredients:
1, 4 to 5 lb pork butt
2, 32 oz. cartons of chicken broth
2, 15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes or equivalent diced fresh tomatoes
20 whole garlic cloves, chopped
4 whole jalapeno peppers, sliced (do not remove the seeds)
1 small can of diced green chiles
2 teaspoons of oregano (dry leaf, or, two Tbsp. of fresh oregano, pressed tightly into the measuring spoon)
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a two gallon pot and simmer, covered, until fork tender. This can take from 3 to 4 hours. If the meat is not fully covered with liquid I recommend turning the meat over to expose the submerged part once every 30 minutes.
When the pork is tender (it falls apart if you stick a fork in it), remove the pot from the heat and remove the pork to a wood cutting board.
Shred (or "pull") the pork with two forks, discarding all fat, cartilage or bone. This turns out to be very easy. If not, then the pork was not cooked long enough.
Defat the hot broth. Use a soup ladle to skim the surface of the hot broth to capture liquified fat. Discard the fat.
Place the shredded pork in a storage container and add a pint or more of the defatted broth and vegetables to keep it moist. Save some or all of the remaining broth in a separate container, because you may want to add some of it to the red beans and rice and chipotle pepper dish at serving time.
Refrigerate the shredded pork and the extra container of broth until they are needed.
Reheat the amount of pork needed either in a microwave oven or in a saucepan, using a little of the broth to keep it moist.
The pork can be used very nicely in tacos or as an ingredient in other Mexican dishes.
One example is to add half of the shredded pork from this recipe, heated, to the red rice and red beans with chipotle pepper recipe shown above. Yummy! You may also want to add a pinch of salt. As mentioned earlier, you may/will want to add a small amount of the saved broth, heated, to create what for you is the perfect level of moisture in the final product, as served.
Enjoy! The combination of flavors and textures by combining the recipes is excellent. This dish has depth. And warmed flour tortillas are an excellent accompaniment.